OUR VIEW: Is building elevated toll road in Birmingham area best use of $710 million?

Gov. Bob Riley is absolutely right on at least one important point about the latest proposal for U.S. 280: After nearly three decades of talking about the traffic problems on the road, it is long past time to move beyond the talk and actually do something.

Riley's something is building a toll road stretching from near downtown Birmingham into fast-growing north Shelby County, with a six-mile section east of Interstate 459 elevated.

The most important are: Can the state afford the $710 million price tag for the road? Even if it can, is it wise to invest so much money into one road project when the metro area and the state have so many other transportation needs?

And, of course, this key question: What about public transit?

While there is a need to find a solution for the growing traffic congestion on U.S. 280 -- and both talk and studies on the corridor have been plentiful in the past -- those questions must be discussed and addressed before the state speeds along the toll-road route. At this point, they haven't been adequately addressed.

True, highway officials and other proponents of an elevated highway have held series of meeting on the proposals. But those meetings produced mixed results. Many residents west of I-459 in Homewood, Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills who spoke out didn't much like the idea of concrete columns and a raised road sprouting up in the highway median through their communities. Many commuters who live east of I-459 liked the time-saving attribute of an elevated expressway zooming them along above congested traffic below.

ALDOT's compromise is to build four inside toll lanes at ground level west of I-459 to the Elton B. Stephens Expressway in Birmingham, and elevate the toll lanes from I-459 to east of Eagle Point in Shelby County. Riley say it all can be built in three years if fast-tracked.

However, only recently have highway officials talked about the costs, and the $710 million estimate is a hefty price to pay for a fix to one road problem. ALDOT says tolls will pay part of the cost, and "innovative financing" will cover the rest.

Whether that is tolls collected by the state or government-issued bonds, these would be public dollars, and committing to such expenditures at least should raise caution flags.

U.S. 280's problem is simple: too much traffic trying to move on a highway clogged with intersections and traffic lights. Those lights bring vehicles to a halt, causing traffic to back up during rush hours, wasting time and fuel.

Highway officials say the highway was designed to handle 50,000 vehicles a day, but it now carries 97,000 vehicles a day. In a decade, they project traffic to approach 140,000 vehicles a day.

The solution is to keep traffic moving by bypassing traffic lights and intersections. That's what the elevated highway and tollway thoroughfare would do, at considerable costs.

ALDOT estimates building the elevated road would cost $410 million, while the ground-level toll road west of I-459 would cost $300 million.

The mistake on U.S. 280 was made decades ago, before the corridor became cluttered with businesses and choked with traffic. Numerous studies and proposals said the solution to the fast traffic growth was to turn the road into a limited-access expressway, like an interstate. Over the years, as development along the highway increased, so did the cost and difficulty of reworking the road. Highway officials say there isn't adequate room anymore for interchanges and service roads.

Now, ALDOT seemed wedded to the idea that an elevated highway is the only solution.

But even if an elevated road is the best technical fix for U.S. 280, that doesn't mean it's the most practical and fiscally responsible solution.

Besides its large price tag, the plan gives short shrift to alternatives other than building more roads. While it's commendable Riley and ALDOT are willing to invest so heavily to address a need in the Birmingham area, their continued tunnel vision is disappointing.

If what you do is build roads, then building more roads tends to look like the solution to nearly every transportation problem. Unlike most states, Alabama doesn't put one cent into public transit in Birmingham or anywhere else in the state.

That's a shame and a missed opportunity. U.S. 280 cries out for more public transportation options, such as express bus service, park-and-ride lots and dedicated carpool lanes. With what highway officials are willing to pay to keep vehicles moving on the highway, a light rail line ought not be out of the question, either.

Of course, there's no reason an elevated toll road can't accommodate public transit. And for plenty of good reasons, transit ought to be an option for U.S. 280 with or without the toll road.

Before the state gives the green light to building the road, we need to decide what's the best use of $710 million.

TOLL ROAD DETAILS

The Alabama Department of Transportation recently unveiled a plan to build a four-lane toll road inside and above U.S. 280 from Birmingham into north Shelby County. Here are some of the details:

Total cost: $710 million -- $410 million for elevated portion, $300 for ground-level section.